Week 4 - Finishing Up

Yay! We've made it through our first monthly QAL! How has everyone enjoyed it? So this week we are making our backs for the pillows and finishing up quilting. Pages 116 - 118 have instructions for 5 different ways to complete the backing. I made the simple envelope back.

If you choose the envelop backing, make sure your to put your top half on first. Then remember to sew 1/2 inch from the edge of the backing fabric. I used a guide to help me. 

After you've sewn everything and finished the edge, cut the excess off and trim the corners.

Here is a picture of my basic envelop back.

 Ta Da! Here are the two pillows that I made and were on the couch long enough for me to take the picture before my daughters claimed their pillow.

March's Pillow is A Bunch Of Crosses by Katy Jones (@ImAGingerMonkey) on page 60. It is a 20" square pillow.
March will also have a random drawing for those who finish their pillows by the end of the month. 

Week 2 and 3: Piecing and Quilting

I'm so sorry for getting week 2 out a week late. It's been a crazy week. We put our cat, that has been with my inlaws for the last couple years, to sleep today. He has been sick and the vet didn't know what was wrong. He was 13 yrs old.

Well during week two I actually had us scheduled cutting the fabrics (which we did in week 1, so we're not behind).

Week 3: Sewing the top and Quilting.

We'll be arranging our fabric squares and sewing them together. We will start by sewing the squares together by rows and then aligning our seams and sewing the rows together.

 

Tip: Press the seams in a row in the opposite direction as the one before it. Look at the top two rows as an example. It will give you less bulk when pressing the seams between the rows.

Next we will sew our borders on. Do the shorter borders on the sides first and then the top and bottom borders. *Remember that you needed to add half an inch to the cutting instructions in your book to the length of each border.

Now for our final step of the week. We will pin sandwich our layers. Place your muslin on the bottom. Batting on top of the muslin and center your pieced top on the batting. If you want to straight line quilt it as Heather did, draw a line in the center of your cross vertically and horizontally. I pinned around the area to be quilted. 

 

 (My needle fell out several times while I was quilting. lol)

Happy Stitching,

Amanda

Coming up: Week 4 - Finishing our pillows!

Pillow Fight - Life Aquatic Week 1 : Slice and Dice

Good afternoon Misfits!

If you're just tuning in, we are doing a monthly QAL. Our first book is Pillow Pop. It is 25 pillow cover patterns compiled by Heather Bostic of {House} Of A La Mode. February's pattern is Life Aquatic by Heather Bostic. I'm so excited for our first Book Club Quilt Along! I fell in love with this book and had to buy it. I wanted our group to do something different than a quilt and something that we would be able to make quickly because if you're like me, I have a TON of WIPs that I want to finish this year.

Grab a pencil or pen because we have a small correction to make to the cutting sizes. I contacted Heather to verify this. The cutting for the Linen should be 3" x 14.5" and 3" x 19.5". She told me that this was a correction that the editor failed to make when they notified them of it before printing. 

I have decided to do two of these pillows, but in different color schemes. The first one is in black and red scraps and the second one will be in gray and pink Sunkissed by Sweetwater.

Week 1 will go from today, Feb 3, to Saturday, Feb 9.

What fabrics are you using for your pillow?

Enchanted Makeover Capes for Kids Program

I came across this today and I wanted to have a "cape party". If you would be interested in making one or more capes for this please email me at themisfitquilters@gmail.com. Capes should be mailed to me by Feb 10th.

Click on the picture above to go to the Enchanted Makeovers blog post to get the pattern for the cape and optional applique.

Enchanted Makeovers was created by Terry Grahl. The company transforms shelters for women, mothers, teens, and children from a sterile, uninspiring place to a warm, welcoming, and empowering "home". Providing a positive atmosphere to rebuild their lives and self.

February - Pillow Pop QAL - Life Aquatic

I wanted to chose one of the two pillows by Heather Bostic, the compiler of the book Pillow Pop, for our first QAL. I choose her 18"x 18" pillow for it's simple and easily sewn design. I wanted it to be one people of all skill levels would be able to sew and one that would be great to raid our scrap bins. 

If you haven't gotten your book yet, I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on fabric requirements. You can use any colors that compliment your style. I will give the pattern for the following months on the finishing week's blog post for each month.

Fabric Requirements:

Aqua: assorted scraps equaling 1/4 yard. (44 : 2-1/2" squares)

Tangerine: scraps in assorted tones for cross (5 : 2-1/2" squares)

Linen: 1/4 yard 

Backing: 1/2 yd decorator fabric

Batting: 20" x 20" piece

Muslin: 20" x 20" piece

Pillow Form: 18" x 18"

Other Items:

Thread 

Sewing Machine

Rotary cutter & Cutting mat

Iron & Ironing Board

Basting pins

Zipper (if you choose to make a zippered pillowcase)

QAL Book - Pillow Pop

Okay, I know I said we'd vote, but this book has some super cute pillow patterns! I also thought that there are a lot of different QALs going on and most of them are full size quilts, this would be a great small project to do. If you have a full plate like me with WIPs and busy schedules a small, quickly finished project would a great idea. We are the Misfit Quilters and doing a QAL that isn't "normal" is right up our alley. We will be doing a slow paced QAL at just one pillow each month. Another great thing is that these are small projects that can be interchanged. Just have to buy the # of pillow forms that you intend to use for where ever you want to showcase them (ie. 2 for the couch, bed, etc). We'll make several of the same size pillows so you can have lots of options to switch.

The beautiful book is by Heather Bostic. You can follow her blog {House} of A La Mode or follow her on Twitter at @HouseofALaMode. The book is a collection of patterns by different quilters. There are 25 patterns with pillow sizes of 16, 18, or 20 inches in size. There are patterns for all levels of experience. You can grab a copy of her book from Amazon (click here or on the picture).

Go ahead and grab your copy of the book. If we do not have enough people signed up for the February Sweetheart Swap, then we will start in February.

Please check what size pillows you would like to do on the poll on the upper right hand side of the page.

Happy Stitching,
Amanda

Quilt Along - Name and Book Suggestions

The poll results are in. I'm excited to announce that we are going to be starting a Misfit Quilt Along! I joined a couple last year and they were very fun! What we are going to do is vote on what book we would like to start with. Then we will pick a pattern from that book every month or every other month. Each week we will have a goal to complete (cutting, piecing blocks, piecing rows, completing the top, and finishing). I will set up a timeline so everyone will know what to expect. You don't have to do every pattern. You can pick and choose what month you join in. You might not like the particular pattern or you are too busy.

I would love to have some suggestions for books. I've been searching the last week or so and there are some great books our there. Please comment with your suggestion. It can be a book of only quilts or a book that has quilts and other sewing projects in it. I will link the books that you suggest in this post and then post a poll so that we can all pick the one we want to start with.

I will have a button up for our quilt along soon.

Other news:

So far we only have 2 people interested in the Sweetheart Swap for February. We need at least 4 more people to join or I will have to cancel it. :-(

I am in the process of making a fun crafty thing starting in February. I can't wait to unveil it soon!

Stray stitches,

Amanda